This summer, NCAP partnered with several farms to to create or showcase beneficial habitat. Morning Owl Farm, nestled against the Boise Foothills just outside of Boise, Idaho, is creating more on-farm habitat for beneficial insects with the help of NCAP and the Xerces Society. Beneficial habitat is part of Morning Owl Farm's approach to integrated pest management (IPM).  Adult monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) sucking nectar from a common zinnia. Morning Owl Farms, August 14, 2018 Continue reading

By Megan Dunn, Health People and Communities Program Director After being diagnosed with terminal non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Dewayne Johnson has won a $289 million court victory that will likely protect others from pesticide exposure. He has exposed a weakness in the multi-billion dollar company, Monsanto, and paved the way for more lawsuits to come. The jury verdict found that Mr. Johnson developed cancer because of a lack of sufficient warnings and that Monsanto knew or should reasonably have known that users would not recognize the danger [1]. Continue reading

(Photo by Claudine Lamothe)(Words by Gina Gervase, Communications Assistant) As dusk settles into night and cricket voices emerge to fill the quiet, the silent wings of a barn owl are lit by the light of the moon. Slow, steady wing beats propel the barn owl as it soars quietly, patrolling open fields using its impressively sharp hearing to locate the sound of scurrying rodents. Honing in on its prey, the barn owl swoops down, snatching a gopher in its talons, and returns to its nest where fluffy, noisy youngsters wait open-beaked for their meal. Continue reading

(Photo by US Department of Agriculture)(Words by Megan Dunn, Healthy People and Communities Program Director) After several public meetings and over 1000 oral and written comments, Oregon has decided to adopt two new Oregon Administrative Rules (OARs) that would allow people in worker housing to “shelter in place” when the grower sprays within the 100-foot application exclusion zone of their housing[i]. Previously federal law required a 100-foot radius where pesticides are being sprayed near workers, but this new law allows spraying within 100 feet if workers are sheltered inside a building. NCAP, along with several farmworker groups, unions and other environmental groups, strongly opposed the rule changes. Continue reading

What would happen if bees ceased to exist? It's a question our Business League supporter, GloryBee, asks you to consider. GloryBee started in the family garage of Dick and Pat Turanski in 1975. In the Pacific Northwest, they've been supplying honey and other quality ingredients to natural food manufacturers, bakeries and markets for over forty years. As a certified B Corporation, they are demonstrating their honest progress towards the goal of being a leader in sustainability and healthy living. They're also on a mission to #SavetheBee and supply tips and strategies on how to help in their Save the Bee blog. Continue reading